Alan Oakes

bluekeith

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13 Dec 2009
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How close did Alan Oakes get to the 1970 world cup squad ? I know he was in the esso coins world cup squad so he must have been close ,if you have any more info that would be good always pickled me
 
bluekeith said:
How close did Alan Oakes get to the 1970 world cup squad ? I know he was in the esso coins world cup squad so he must have been close ,if you have any more info that would be good always pickled me

Alan was very unfortunate that England had a true World Class player,playing in the same position as himself,Bobby Moore.Had Moore not been about then I would say that Alan would almost certainly have got some caps,but then along came another superb left wing back ...Norman Hunter.
Alan was so unlucky to have been born at the same time as Moore,but its nothing to be ashamed of,coming a runner up to a superb player and Captain such as Bobby Moore.I know Alan and was with him a couple of weeks ago and he`s not the sort of bloke that would go around complaining,just not his nature.
So glad that both him and his cousin Glyn Pardoe were at the time with one of the most successful Clubs in Europe and both coming from my home town of Winsford.
As an aside, I will be playing dominoes and having a fair few pints of liquid refreshment later tonight,with Alans elder brother,Ken,who is one of my best mates,hence my "glowing" report on Alan.
 
I was not sure if there was a preliminary squad then they had to cut it down and then you have the Pardoe is off to mexico song and I was not sure if they were in the preliminary squad very confusing . At least Alan will have his sterling silver set that esso made for all the players
 
Dave Ewing's Back 'eader said:
He didn't score many goals, didn't Alan, but I remember one thundering left footer!

I remember a few but the one you're thinking of may have been against Spurs at Maine Road. Straight from the kick off after Spurs had taken the lead the ball was played out to Summerbee who put a cross in and Oakes hit the hardest shot I think I've ever seen on the volley from about 25 yards out. If the ball hadn't hit the back of the net it would have gone into orbit. The Spurs fans were still celebrating their goal. Honourable mentions for one at Coventry and home to Athletic Bilbao too.
 
Remember Alan scoring against Middlesbrough in the 75/76 League Cup Semi, I was in the North Stand that night and it was a cracking goal he scored, he was a good midfielder who always put a shift no matter what, and it was pleasure to watch him play for City during the 70's..................
 
WyongBlue said:
Remember Alan scoring against Middlesbrough in the 75/76 League Cup Semi, I was in the North Stand that night and it was a cracking goal he scored, he was a good midfielder who always put a shift no matter what, and it was pleasure to watch him play for City during the 70's..................
He had an Indian Summer to his career that season (which was his last with us) as he was played further forward and scored half a dozen goals.
 
WyongBlue said:
Remember Alan scoring against Middlesbrough in the 75/76 League Cup Semi, I was in the North Stand that night and it was a cracking goal he scored, he was a good midfielder who always put a shift no matter what, and it was pleasure to watch him play for City during the 70's..................

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXLc1CYZoqw[/video]
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
WyongBlue said:
Remember Alan scoring against Middlesbrough in the 75/76 League Cup Semi, I was in the North Stand that night and it was a cracking goal he scored, he was a good midfielder who always put a shift no matter what, and it was pleasure to watch him play for City during the 70's..................
He had an Indian Summer to his career that season (which was his last with us) as he was played further forward and scored half a dozen goals.

IIRC, Ron Saunders didn't seem to rate him and had dropped him, first preferring Tony Towers and then swapping Towers for Mick Horswill from Sunderland. When Saunders was sacked, Book restored Oakes to the team and in 1974/5 he played in a midfield three alongside Hartford and Bell. For balance in that line-up, Oakes as the most defensively minded of the three usually sat deeper. The next season, when Bell was injured, Tommy Booth played most of the season in midfield alongside Oakes and Hartford. With Booth being a converted centre-half, he was happy to cover when Oakes got forward and the result was Alan notching a few more goals.

Oakes left in the summer of 1976 to go to Chester as a player-coach and fairly quickly became player-manager. I do suspect that he dropped down the leagues a bit early and could have played in the old First Division for another year or two.

By the way, there's another long-range shot by him here, in the ECWC against Athletic Bilbao in October 1969:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfCw_xhbLdI[/video]

EDIT - Actually, according to Wiki, Oakes played only 15 games in 1972/3 and 33 in 1973/4. However, he didn't play in the LC final against Wolves and I think Horswill was seen as a replacement for the role of partnering Colin Bell. However, Oakes fought off that challenge, and was pretty much an automatic choice for his remaining two seasons at the club.
 
Alan was one of the finest players ever to grace Maine Road. He never complained, just got on with the job. Agree with the comments re Bobby Moore, a great player.

Liverpool manager Bill Shankly described Alan as "exactly the kind of player youngsters should use as a model". He made 680 league and cup appearances for Manchester City, scoring 33 goals.
 

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